Nationals

charge and they can set up their rotation exactly how they want. The flip side is that their hitters might not be sharp when play resumes.

“Baseball season’s kind of uncomfortable. Your body’s kind of under constant fire,” right fielder Adam Eaton said. “And when you get a breath of fresh air, sometimes it has a tendency to relax a little bit.”

A year ago, Dozier went to the World Series with the Dodgers, who faced a Boston Red Sox club that had two more days of rest than Los Angeles did. And Boston wound up winning.

But the previous nine champs — nine! — were the teams that had less time off.

In that span, there were only two examples of World Series teams that had four more days away than the other club: The 2012 Detroit Tigers (who featured current Nationals pitchers Max Scherzer and Aníbal Sánchez) hit .159 and got swept by the San Francisco Giants; the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies batted .227 and lost to the Yankees in six games.

Dozier doesn’t find it daunting.

“We’re all professionals in here. We know what it takes. We have live pitching every day. Some guys might hit, some not — whatever you think you need to do to get ready,” he said, then broke into a smile. “We’re not 16. We’ve got some 42-year- olds around here that’s been around.”

Washington held a 90-minute workout at Nationals Park on Friday afternoon, including batting practice, baserunning drills and fielding work for the position players, and throwing for the pitchers.

“These guys have played unbelievably. I think they needed a break. Some guys really needed a break,” manager Dave Martinez said. “Heal their bodies a little bit.”